Chapter 34: Martial Arts Scroll

As he followed the voices.

Roger stood outside of a tent that was slightly bigger than the rest.

Then, he saw two gray dwarves who were pushing each other near the entrance of the tent.

After encountering it multiple times, Roger was sure that this was their way of dealing with conflict.

In the end, the weaker one was chased away as the bigger looking dwarf was screaming at him.

As Roger looked at the grey dwarf that was escaping, he saw something around its waist and began to wonder.

"If I remember it correctly, the chief that I killed before this also had the same bronze plate hanging around his waist. The number '3' was written on it as well."

"Does it mean campsite number 3?"

"So, the one that entered the tent was the vice-chief?"

With the things that he saw, Roger had some speculation about what happened.

It must have been that the vice chief wanted to take over the ex-chief's tent as it had died in the battle.

The dwarf that was arguing with the vice chief would have been someone close to the ex-chief.

It wanted to defend the ex-chief's tent but was ruthlessly chased away.

"So, this is the tent of the ex-chief?"

As he gently touched the fireproof bead that was in his pocket, Roger was filled with excitement.

He was quite interested in the origins of these treasures.

If there were really a martial art sect in the marshland, there was a high possibility that he might find something useful.

Therefore, he looked around cautiously and ensured that there was no one around before entering the tent.

　　...

There wasn't much light in the tent, but it was a huge tent.

As Roger entered the tent, he could already hear the snores of the vice chief who was sleeping peacefully.

Looks like the influence of the dragon on the gray dwarves was much more than what Roger had expected but he still remained very careful.

With the dim light inside the tent, he quickly looked around and assessed the environment.

Then, he started moving around at a moderate pace and was testing the perceived range of the vice chief. 

The Qi Divination Technique showed that this dwarf was a rare gray dwarf warlock.

This was good news.

His magic resistance that was at full bar now wouldn't really matter if the attack was from a mage or a warlock. 

So, Roger decided to continue advancing.

When both parties were about less than five meters from each other, the gray dwarf warlock was still snoring loudly.

Roger couldn't help but laugh. "Trying to play games with me?"

In the dark space, he could see the light of the dagger that the gray dwarf had been hiding under his blanket.

That was an extremely sharp dagger.

Obviously, this fellow noticed him but decided to play along with Roger's plan but the frequency of his snores gave him away.

How could anyone snore so consistently?

It almost sounded like soldiers marching.

It was too fake.

Plus, Roger had very strong low light vision and could clearly see all his small gestures.

Then, everything after that fell into place naturally.

Roger pretended to attack him.

The gray dwarf swept his dagger across and was about to scream for help.

But since Roger already expected these to happen, he easily dodged the dagger and pierced the green beetle sword through the dwarf's neck!

That was the end of the gray dwarf warlock!

The dwarf's vocal cords had been completely destroyed by the sword.

His call for help had become a voiceless cry.

　　...

[You have killed one gray dwarf, accumulated kills: 500]

[New Milestone achieved- Genocide, corresponding title: executioner]

[You have gained one point of monument]

　　...

[Executioner (basic title)]

[Worn effect 1: +3 hit rate when critical attack done on living creatures]

[Worn effect 2: Drow Friendliness +10]

　　...

As Roger looked through the attribute bar, he was pretty satisfied with the effects of this title.

He immediately decided to redeem and use the title.

The thing that he was interested in was the additional hit rate during a critical attack.

As for the second effect, ever since he teleported, he hadn't even met a single elf; not to mention drow.

Roger pulled the body of the warlock aside and hit it.

Then, he began to search the tent.

He was right.

This was the tent of the gray dwarf chief who knew martial arts.

The proof to this were the two martial arts scrolls that he found in the tent!

　　...

[Normal martial art scrolls (Quincuncial Piles)]

　　...

[Elite martial art scrolls (Drunken Fist)]

　　...

Unfortunately, he couldn't learn any of these martial arts.

Roger didn't know the reason why.

It was probably because he didn't have the prerequisites for learning scrolls.

He was a hermit ranger after all. Although his profession was similar to the martial arts personnel, there were still differences between these two.

"Well, luckily the dwarf didn't learn the drunken fist."

"I wouldn't be able to accept it!"

Roger really couldn't imagine the scene of a gray dwarf trying to fight him with the drunken fist.

But if the ex-chief's condition wasn't an exception, he could boldly assume a lot of things.

For example, in Mystra, the martial arts culture must have been brilliant before this!

Therefore, it wouldn't be weird that the other races had martial arts skills.

Elves who were grinding their horse stance, Titans who were breaking stones on their chest, and the undead who were waving their swords in the air…...

If you could accept these sorts of settings, it would feel quite awesome.

　　...

As he calmed himself down from all these ridiculous thoughts, Roger continued searching for loot in the tent.

Other than the scrolls, he did find quite an amount of money. The chief of the grey dwarves was loaded.

From his estimation, there were about eight hundred copper orders in this tent.

Perhaps this was why the other gray dwarves were so poor.

"Hmm? What is this? A ghost painting?"

Next to the bed.

Roger looked at the parchment that was in his hands.

This parchment was hidden in a very secluded area.

Initially, he thought that it was just a normal magic scroll, but as he unfolded it, there were colorful lines drawn all over it along with some markings that were hard to understand.

"Maybe it's a map."

After looking at it for a few minutes, Roger finally realized what it was.

Well, you can't blame him for it. The markings drawn were very confusing.　

All the lines were like the highways on the road as they madly intercepted with each other.

"Why was it marked with different colours?"

Roger had to force himself to think like a gray dwarf.

His instincts were telling him that this wasn't just a simple map.

"If this is just a map, why was it drawn this way?"

"It's too complicated for a gray dwarf?!"

"Why are there different markings in the same place?"

The ideas in his head were expanding rapidly.

Soon, Roger figured it out.

This was a map indeed but it wasn't for the ground on land.

It was a map of an underground city!

There was an underground city near the marshland!

If this assumption was true, it could explain how so many of the gray dwarves suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

And if he continued with this assumption.

The ex-chief must have also gotten these scrolls and treasure from the underground city, right?

In an instant, there were all sorts of ideas popping into Roger's mind.

　　...

Eventually, Roger carefully folded the map and kept it.

There were no stones left unturned in the tent.

Roger didn't find much to get from the warlock.

The only useful thing was the Topaz Ring that would help with increasing the recovery speed.

After getting everything that he needed, Roger finally left.

He didn't immediately leave the campsite, instead, he went to the smaller tents around.

Tonight.

There were a lot of gray dwarves who were suffering from the emotional trauma after facing the true wrath of the dragon.

And Roger was there to give them peace.